in the body

12:2 in the body. Paul had already written about a future bodily rapture into heaven and also about the departure of the soul from the body into heaven (I Thessalonians 4:16-17; II Corinthians 5:6-8), so both types of events are possible. In this case he was not sure which it was. Perhaps in His visit to heaven he had encountered both men in physical bodies (e.g., the Old Testament saints raised after Christ’s resurrection—Matthew 27:52-53) and also translated souls awaiting resurrection (see notes on II Corinthians 5:1-8), and he could not be certain of his own state at the time.